NEWS RELEASE: Tim Hudak and Ontario PCs Only Party Listening and Delivering for Northern Ontario Families

July 14th, 2011

www.changebook.ca/north

NEWS:

THUNDER BAY — Today, Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak released changebook North – the Party’s specific commitments to Northern Ontario families to build stronger communities and create Northern jobs. While Dalton McGuinty listens to Southern Ontario special interests to create policies that simply don’t work in the North, only Tim Hudak and the Ontario PC Party have been listening to and delivering for Northern Ontario families.

Any policy to create jobs and ensure a strong future for the North has three questions at its core: Does it originate in the North? Does it protect the Northern way of life? Does it keep wealth in the North? Only if the answer was “yes” to all three would we include it in changebook North.

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NEWS RELEASE: [Ring of Fire] Matawa First Nations form United Front to Protect Natural Resources

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Matawa First Nations is a Tribal Council of nine Northern Ontario First Nations located in Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN). The members are Aroland First Nation, Constance Lake First Nation, Ginoogaming First Nation, Long Lake #58 First Nation, Eabametoong First Nation, Marten Falls First Nation, Nibinamik First Nation, Webequie First Nation. www.matawa.on.ca

July 14th, 2011– Today all nine Chiefs from Matawa First Nations communities signed a historic declaration, making the commitment to stand together to protect the natural resources and territories of member First Nations. The Mamow- Wecheekapawetahteewiin- “Unity Declaration”, states that the nine Matawa communities agree that they “must stand together in order to ensure our nation is protected. Therefore, we assert our Aboriginal and Treaty Rights to the land, water and resources by requiring our written consent before any development activity may proceed.” The “Unity Declaration” further states that; “Failure to consult, accommodate and receive the consent of the First Nation(s) to proceed with any work or activity is an unjustified infringement upon our Aboriginal, Treaty and Custodial rights as First Nations.”

The declaration that was unanimously supported comes after a Matawa summit that was held in Neskantaga First Nation in early June, 2011, that focused on the development of a unified strategy to move forward on future developments and the protection of the First Nations lands, waters and resources. Chief Sonny Gagnon of Aroland First Nation says; “With this declaration, we hope to send a very powerful message to industry and government- Matawa First Nations are working as one. Any development occurring around any of our First Nations communities will impact us as one and this needs to be recognized”.

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Ontario Mining Act and Far North Act upsets Aboriginal groups…any many others – by Gregory Reynolds

This article appeared in the Winter 2010-11 issue of Mining Life & Exploration News (Canada’s Quarterly Mining Magazine)

Ontario has a new Mining Act and also a special law intended to protect 225,000 square kilometres of the Boreal Forest, the Far North Act. Then why are so many people unhappy with these pieces of legislation?

Basically because many Aboriginal organizations, environmental watchdogs and mining groups believe when the verbiage is stripped from the core of the two laws, they leave total control in the hands of the government.

Many argue both the mining sector and Aboriginals are worse off today than before the process started to protect the industry while respecting constitutional rights and Treaty obligations involving natives. There is a saying, the legislature passes laws but the devil is in the regulations created by bureaucrats.

It is the process that will lead to the regulations under the acts that have many organizations concerned today and worried about tomorrow.

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Pressure from U.S. could hasten development of strategic chromite deposits in Ring of Fire – by Gregory Reynolds

This article appeared in the Winter 2010-11 issue of Mining Life & Exploration News (Canada’s Quarterly Mining Magazine)

The drive to develop the Ring of Fire’s huge storehouse of minerals is no longer just based on economics but has entered the world of international politics. In fact, the safety of the United States of America has become a factor……and the military establishment wields a big stick.

The need for a safe and secure chromite source to keep the U.S. gigantic defence machine in a state of perpetual readiness (as well as fighting two wars at the moment) has been drawn to the world’s attention by WikiLeaks, a web site dedicated to revealing government secrets.

In November, WikiLeaks founder Julien Assange started publishing some of the 250,000 secret diplomatic message sent by and to U.S. diplomats stationed around the world. Concern was expressed about foreign dependence on key commodities.

One of the key players in the Ring of Fire is KWG Resources Inc. and it issued a statement Dec. 6 that said: “The inclusion of chrome sources in Kazakhstan and India, on a U.S. State Department leaked listing of strategic assets, demonstrates the potential global significance of the Ring of Fire chromite discoveries. Until now, North America has had no commercially viable sources of chromite,” explained KWG president Frank Smeenk.

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[Thunder Bay’s] Lakehead wins approval to launch law school – by James Bradshaw (Globe and Mail – July 6, 2011)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous impact and influence on Canada’s political and business elite as well as the rest of the country’s print, radio and television media.

Lakehead University has won provincial approval to launch the law school it has long coveted, promising to gear its newest faculty to attract aboriginal students and focus on aboriginal law.

It is Ontario’s first new law school since 1969, and one of several recent efforts across Canada to craft programs and curricula around local cultural needs, from plans for an indigenous law degree at the University of Victoria to Cape Breton University’s newly minted chair in aboriginal business studies.

It is also Northern Ontario’s first law school, chosen to fill a regional need as well as a cultural gap. For years, Lakehead has argued the need to train local students close to home to maintain a strong pool of legal talent, drive economic expansion and serve aboriginal students, who already make up nearly 14 per cent of its student body.

A first class of 55 law students will enroll in September, 2013, with priority going to Northern and aboriginal applicants. They will be able to take courses on aboriginal law, which can range from indigenous legal principles to treaty or land-claim law.

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[Ring of Fire] A Market For Chrome – by Brian Sylvester (Mining Markets – September, 2009)

Please note this article was originally published in Mining Markets in September 2009. Much has changed in the Ring of Fire since then and this article is posted here for archival reasons. – Stan Sudol 

Noront Resources (NOT-V) president and CEO Wes Hanson says the global ferrochrome market is somewhere around 17 million tonnes, while his predecessor and Noront director, Joe Hamilton, believes it’s closer to 12 million.

German firm Heinz Pariser Research is forecasting an average ferrochrome price of US$0.79 per lb. and US$1,600 per tonne until 2017. Raw chromite fetches US$200 per tonne.

With global demand of 14.5 million tonnes (the average of the earlier estimates), the global ferrochrome market is worth about US$23.2 billion. A 5% share of that market would be worth US$1.16 billion annually.

Some rough estimates put the chromite tonnage in the Ring of Fire well into the billions but it takes 2.5 tonnes of chromite to make 1 tonne of ferrochrome. And if you saturate the market with too much production early on, prices will sink and the financial models used to finance development would be rendered useless.

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[Ring of Fire] When In Chrome: A Brief Histroy – by Brian Sylvester (Mining Markets – September, 2009)

Please note this article was originally published in Mining Markets in September 2009. Much has changed in the Ring of Fire since then and this article is posted here for archival reasons. – Stan Sudol

The ‘Ring of Fire’ contains vast gobs of black ore known as chromite. Some wild-eyed folks are speculating that there is enough ‘black gold’ for 100 years worth of production at current demand levels. No junior in the camp really knows how much chromite it has but they are all racing to find out.

Somewhere beneath the labyrinth of peat bogs, meandering streams and shallow lakes, there is a hole in an Archean-aged greenstone belt that started everything.

Two men are largely responsible for drilling that hole and finding Canada’s biggest chromite deposits (as well as others): Spider president and chief operating officer, Neil Novak, who until June was the vice-president of exploration of — you guessed it — Noront Resources; and Richard Nemis, Noront’s former president and CEO, and current chairman emeritus.

Spider was seeking diamond-bearing kimberlites in the McFauld’s Lake area, since dubbed the ‘Ring of Fire’ in the late 1990s when it engineered a joint venture with De Beers Canada. It was a good fit: De Beers had cash and, Spider, prospective concessions.

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[Ring of Fire] Chrome – Brian Sylvester (Mining Markets – September, 2009)

Please note this article was originally published in Mining Markets in September 2009. Much has changed in the Ring of Fire since then and this article is posted for archival reasons. – Stan Sudol

If Las Vegas odds makers were handicapping the field to determine who will be first past the post in the ‘Ring of Fire’ Chromite Derby, Noront Resources (NOT-T) would be the surefire front-runner; Freewest Resources (FWR-V), the dark horse; KWG Resources (KWG-V) and Spider Resources (SPQ-V), the long shots; while Probe Mines (PRB-V) would be the pretender — at least for now.

The winner will publish Canada’s first National Instrument 43-101-compliant resource estimate for a chromite deposit — a feat that could be worth millions.

“I have got the first resource estimate, for sure,” claims Wes Hanson, president and CEO of Noront. “Certainly some of the other players in the camp have very interesting chromite discoveries. Unlike Noront, they are probably about two years behind us in terms of getting it drilled off to a level sufficient enough to allow them to do a 43-101 resource estimate.” While that may or may not be true, Noront’s leader-of-the-pack status did not happen without a plan.

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Peat Resources hopes to fuel the Ring of Fire – Resource World Magazine – (May 2010)

http://www.peatresources.com/

http://www.resourceworld.com/

Dr. Peter Telford, President/CEO of Peat Resources Ltd. [PET-TSXV] has a question. How can Ontario meet its political commitments and achieve northern economic development, specifically, how to meet the need of the Ring of Fire proponents for reasonably priced power?

His company may have the answer. Peat Resources has identified over 200 million tonnes of fuel-grade peat in northwest Ontario, representing about 22 million tonnes of pellets, enough to supply Ontario Power Generation’s northern generating stations for over 20 years. Peat is considered biomass and is used in electricity generating stations requiring a long-term, assured supply of environmentally friendly, economically competitive and consistently stable, quality fuel.

“Before going into production, we need to do some feasibility work and scale up our pilot plant operations to a full-scale production facility at Upsala, located 130 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay, Ontario,” explained Telford. “Right now we can process about 25 tonnes per day. The plant was set up to prove up the technology that we are using and provide us with material for marketing and testing purposes.”

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Ring of Fire Conference (Thunder Bay Speech) – by the Honourable Michael Gravelle Minister of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry (June 23, 2011)

 

The Ring of Fire Conference in Thunder Bay on June 23, 2011 was by invitation only.

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 Good afternoon, everyone, it is a pleasure to be here. What an exciting day and a half it has been here at the Ring of Fire Conference. It certainly is living up to expectations by promoting insightful dialogue and innovative thinking.

I’ve been asked to join you this afternoon again to share with you my vision and aspirations for the future of the Ring of Fire.  I want to take it a step further by expressing my unequivocal conviction that the dream of sustainable and balanced mineral development can be achieved.

In doing so, I hope that I can inspire your creativity in coming up with innovative and strategic ideas that will help us create and manage the massive infrastructure development efforts required to foster growth in the Ring of Fire and beyond.

Yes, even though the Ring of Fire’s projected potential could mean production could go on for a century, it is important to think of the North’s continued prosperity even beyond the 100 years.

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Ontario’s Mythical & Potentially Lucrative Ring of Fire -by Blogger Milkyminx (January 18, 2011)

Approximately 480 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, Ontario is the mythical Ring of Fire, which has, for years, been whispering hope to miners and investors, while steadily disquieting environmentalists.

The story of the Ring is punctuated with surprises.

It begins with junior exploration companies (including Spider Resources Inc., KWG Resources Inc., and Freewest Resources Inc.) digging for diamonds in the McFauld’s Lake area of northern Ontario. None could resist fortune’s lure in the mid 1990s when diamond company, De Beers Canada Inc., began re-examining the area’s diamond-producing kimberlite pipes.

Instead of diamonds, however, they found copper and zinc. But that was enough to spur other small players to begin digging nearby.

Then in 2007, Noront Resources Ltd. found high-grade nickel with copper and palladium, confirming the potency of the area. This excited mine operators, who coined and began publicizing the phrase, “Ring of Fire,” to describe the mineral-rich exploration zone.

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[Thunder Bay] Ring of Fire session jam-packed – Chronicle-Journal (June 23, 2011)

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

Those looking for a piece of the Ring of Fire mining project action crammed a Thunder Bay conference hall on Wednesday while a small group of employees who walked off the job at the mining camp protested outside the Valhalla Inn.

The Ring of Fire infrastructure conference has brought “a wide range of different parties together,’’ said Christine Kaszycki, the province’s Ring of Fire co-ordinator and assistant deputy Northern Development, Mines and Forestry minister.

“First Nations, municipalities, provincial and federal government agencies, and environmental groups as well, to really begin doing some collective thinking, particularly the infrastructure requirements in the far north,” are in the city for the conference, she said.

Kaszycki said the goal is to get a grip on the key considerations for the project, identify common ground and start thinking about short-, medium- and long-term goals.

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Commodities boom lifts Aboriginal incomes – by Jeremy Torobin (Globe and Mail Blog – June 17, 2011)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous impact and influence on Canada’s political and business elite as well as the rest of the country’s print, radio and television media.

Click here for: TD report on Aboriginal incomes

Anyone who reads the business pages knows that lofty commodity prices have mostly been bonus for the Canadian economy and average household wealth, even if the strong currency that comes with them is a headache for manufacturers.

But here’s a good-news aspect of Canada’s emergence as a globally renowned hotbed for coveted resources that doesn’t get the attention it deserves: Aboriginals are sharing in the bounty, finding jobs more easily and seeing their personal and community incomes grow. Since 2001, thanks to a steady stream of jobs in the oil-and-gas and mining sectors, as well as in construction, total personal income for Aboriginals has grown by an average 7.5 per cent each year, according to a new study from TD Economics.

In fact, TD economists Sonya Gulati and Derek Burleton estimate in their report that the combined income of Aboriginal households, businesses and governments could top $32-billion within five years. That’s more than the combined level of nominal gross domestic product of Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island, making Aboriginals a fast-growing consumer market that all Canadian businesses would do well to factor into their marketing plans, the authors suggest.

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NEWS RELEASE: Rencore Resources Announces the Signing of an Exploration Agreement with Webequie First Nation

Toronto, Ontario (June 17, 2011) – Rencore Resources Ltd. (CNSX: RNC) (“Rencore” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has signed an exploration agreement with the Webequie First Nation (“WFN”). This agreement is a sign of the cooperative relationship and mutual respect between Rencore and the people of the Webequie FirstNation.

“Webequie First Nation is pleased that more progressive exploration companies like Rencore Resources have made the effort for meaningful engagement and we look forward to a deeper participation and partnership as the exploration program evolves” said Chief Cornelius Wabasse.

Rencore President and CEO, Richard E. Nemis states, “We are very pleased to have reached his agreement and we look forward to a mutually beneficial relationship with the Webequie First Nation”.

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NEWS RELEASE: Cliffs Workers Walk off Job Site in Ring of Fire

Poor working conditions not tolerated by First Nations and Non-Native Workers

Sunday June 19, 2011 – Ring of Fire, Northern Ontario: – Over two dozen First Nation and non-native workers employed by Cliffs Natural Resources have walked off their job-site in the Ring of Fire Mining Camp this weekend. 

Protesting poor wages, deteriorating working conditions and inadequate health & safety infrastructure, workers at the camp are taking an indefinite stand against the Cleveland-based mining giant, Cliffs Natural Resources. 

Workers describe an average week‘s work in the Cliffs Mining Camp as moving out bulk samples of Chromite, weighing up to 200 tons or 400,000 pounds.   This labour intensive work is carried out by hand and manpower exclusively and involves manually loading rocks into 15 gallon pails and onto airplanes.  

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